3 j [ ? 33 3
V E R O N I C A agOr eftis,T
Procumbent Speedwell.
DIANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. Char. Cor. inferior, o f i petal, 4-cleft, wheel-
fhaped ; lower divifion narrowed:. Capf. 2-celled.
Spec. C har. Flowers folitary. Leaves ovate, deeply
ferrated, fhorter than the flower-ftalks. Stems
procumbent. Seeds cupped.
S yn. Veronica agreftis. Linn. Sp. PL 18. Sm. P i,
Brit. 23. Hudf. 7. With. 17. Hull. 3. Relb. 7.
Sibth. 6. Abhot. 4. Curt. Lond.fafc. 1. t. 1.
V . floribus fingularibus, in oblongis pediculis, cha-
msedryfolia. Rati Syn. 279.
No weed can be more general than this in all cultivated
fields and gardens, where, though an annual, it is always to be
found in fome ftage or other, and in flower from the beginning
of fpring till the end of autumn.
The root is fmall and fibrous. Stems feveral, procumbent,
long, leafy, round, hairy, not branched except at their bafe.
Leaves fcattered, on fhort foot-ftalks, ovate, inclining to heart-
fhaped, deeply ferrated, a little rough and hairy. Flowers on
Ample folitary axillary (talks, which exceed in length their
correfponding leaves, and after flowering are curved downwards.
Segments o f the calyx ovato-lanceolate, ciliated, generally
quite entire, now and then irregularly toothed. Corolla
fmall, bright blue. Capfule of two round fwelling lobes, rough.
Seeds about 6 in each cell, externally rugged, cupped or hollowed
out on the other fide, in which hollow the little ftalk is
fixed that attaches them to the feed-vefleh Their whole ftruc-
ture is curious, and totally different from that of V. arvenfis.